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State Reports: Small Businesses Hire Diverse Entry-Level Workforce

Publisher:

Small Business Majority

Date:

Wednesday, 14 October, 2015

New scientific polling in Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and New Mexico shows small business hiring of lower-level employees is diverse, but more can be done to increase diversity in the hiring of upper-management employees. Additionally, some small employers plan to hire or promote in order to increase the diversity of their high-level workforce within the next few years.

Louisiana

A scientific opinion poll conducted for Small Business Majority by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found that Louisiana small businesses hire a diverse set of employees among their non-management level staff. The poll found three-quarters of Louisiana small businesses have at least one female employee (75%), 47% have at least one African-American employee, 15% have at least one Hispanic employee, 12% have at least one employee with a disability, 8% have at least one Asian or Pacific Islander employee, 7% have at least one American Indian or Alaskan native employee and 20% report having at least one other non-white employee.

Michigan

A scientific opinion poll conducted for Small Business Majority by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found that Michigan small businesses have a diverse workforce among their lower-level staff, but women and minorities are underrepresented at the management level. Among management or non-entry level staff, 29% are women 6% are Hispanic, 6% are Asian or Pacific Islander, 4% are African-American, 4% have a disability, 1% are American Indian or Alaskan native and 6% represent another non-white minority. However, it’s important to note that many small businesses do not have management positions outside the owner, and more than 8 in 10 poll respondents (84%) have 10 or fewer employees.

Mississippi

New scientific polling in Mississippi shows small business hiring of lower-level employees is diverse, but more can be done to increase diversity in the hiring of upper-management employees.The poll, conducted for Small Business Majority by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, found that Mississippi small businesses hire a diverse set of employees among their non-management level staff, but among management or non-entry level staff, only 31% are women, 14% are African-American, 3% have a disability, 1% are Hispanic, 1% are American Indian or Alaskan native and 4% represent another non-white minority. However, it’s important to note that many small businesses do not have management positions outside the owner, and more than 9 in 10 poll respondents (92%) have 10 or fewer employees.

New Mexico

Small businesses make up nearly 96% of businesses in New Mexico and employ more than half of the state’s private sector workers. New scientific polling in New Mexico shows small business hiring of lower-level employees is diverse, but more can be done to increase diversity in the hiring of upper-management employees. The poll found three-quarters of small businesses have at least one female employee, nearly two-thirds (62%) have at least one Hispanic employee, 16% have at least one American Indian or Alaskan native employee, 16% have at least one employee with a disability, 11% have at least one African-American employee, 3% have at least one Asian or Pacific Islander employee and 31% report having at least one other non-white employee.